Having an accurate system for determining constituents of analytes in medical and clinical samples is highly desirable.
This invention relates to optical waveguides for analytical purposes. In particular, the invention is concerned with using such waveguides in spectrophotometers, clinical diagnostic instruments and analytical ultracentrifuges.
There is a need for a compact, stable and low cost means of separating white light into component colors. The intensity of these colors should be detected in a manner which allows a qualitative and/or quantitative estimate of the chemical content of the chemical and medical samples probed by the light. The medical or clinical sample can either be flowing or static, and the light emanating from, through or in relation to the sample is a measure of the constituents of that sample. There is also a need to increase the sensitivity and reliability of measurements made by such a system.
Existing analytical instruments use the interaction of light with a sample to provide a measure of the characteristics of the sample. The interacted light is focused onto a detector to provide the measurement. Some of the known means for detecting the light transmit the light from the sample through a waveguide to the detector in the instrument. In these known systems the method of transmitting the light is not always efficiently and effectively conducted along the waveguide and to the sample. There is a need to improve the transmission of light from the sample to the detector of the analytical means in an efficient cost effective way.
It is known to have optical waveguides which use Bragg diffraction means with a waveguide. These Bragg diffraction means in the waveguide are used to concentrate light and focus light and provide holographic representations.
Bragg diffraction has been utilized in other spectrometers. These suffer from being implemented in a macro component design and hence are large and expensive to fabricate. They require multiple process steps in component manufacture and alignment and are not as stable. They consist of multiple components which can all move more easily with respect to each other due to mechanical vibrations or thermal effects. There is a need to apply waveguides using Bragg diffraction means efficiently in analytical instruments, particularly analytical instruments related to measuring of clinical and medical samples.